Some skyscrapers go from announcement to completion in a couple of years. Others take longer. 353 West Grand, a proposal from Vancouver’s Onni, is one of the ones taking the more ponderous route. We’ve known since 2013 that something big was coming to the southwest corner of Grand and Orleans, the former location of the Clark and Barlow hardware store. In 2015, Onni put forward a plan from River...

It’s been a little while since the last proposal for a residential skyscraper in River North. But things are starting to roll again. In an e-mail to constituents, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly announced that 353 West Grand is in play again. You may remember that address as the former home of the Clark and Barlow hardware store. It’s been a little over a year since we last wrote about this property. Back in April of...

Chicago’s latest round skyscraper is climbing over Greektown, the Kennedy Expressway, and the West Loop beyond. 727 West Madison (née One South Halsted) sprouted in what used to be the parking lot for the Crowne Plaza hotel, on the southeast corner of Madison and Halsted. It’s a Fifield project designed by Fitzgerald Associates, and is letting everyone know that it’s OK to build skyscrapers with curves again in...

In spite of yesterday’s snows qualls, we’re finally getting to the part of the year when we can think about spring without jinxing ourselves. Soon Lincoln Park will be full of daffodils pushing through the flowerbeds, the Michigan Avenue sidewalks will be full of tulips pushing through the dirt in the planters, and dandelions will start pushing through the cracks in your driveway. One sprout that’s not waiting for...

It was just a couple of days ago that River North Spy Chris sent us photos of crane parts being delivered to Wolf Point. Now… Bam! We have achieved crane! Chris has sent in a new set of photos showing a legitimate, if diminutive, tower crane at the heart of the construction for the 628,500-square-foot Wolf Point East. It won’t remain small for long. Wolf Point East is expected to rise 668 feet over the Chicago River,...

It hasn’t been that long, but it’s already time for another update on the construction of 465 North Park. In our last update, we were just starting to be able to see that this isn’t going to be yet another collection of rectangles glued together (apologies to its neighbor, the North Water Apartments/Loews Hotel Tower). No, thanks to Pappageorge Haymes‘ multi-lobed design, 465 has more curves than a Vegas...

There is a point in the construction of every skyscraper where it goes from amorphous chaos of dirt and rebar and transforms into something resembling its future self. Like when a tadpole sprouts legs and starts to look more like a frog than a ‘wog. Or when your 12-year-old daughter puts on her first formal dress, and as a father you’re both bursting with pride, and horrified at what might come next. That cotillion...

Just 12 hours after we were the first to tell you that construction crews were busy starting work on Wolf Point East, the skyscraper’s Houston developer, Hines, made it official with a press release (below). We were able to break the news for you thanks to Loop Spy Chris, who saw bulldozers, remembered our tip line, and did the right thing. Wolf Point East is the second of three skyscrapers planned for the knob of land that juts...

After wasting half a day going back-and-forth to the big orange home improvement megamart trying to repair a single-handle Moen bathtub faucet (insert string of expletives here), my wife asked me the question, “Are there any more hardware stores anymore?” How timely! Because just as she said those words my phone, which was previously in a continuous loop of plumbing repair videos, concidentally lit up with an incoming...

Wood Partners‘ latest skyscraper is making its mark in the South Loop skyline. Alta Roosevelt (801 South Financial Place) has climbed higher than most of its immediate neighbors, and is at that point in its development where it simply cannot be ignored. Joe Zekas from YoChicago! sent us the photograph above, showing just how far the Pappageorge Haymes-designed residential block has come since it wriggled to the surface of the...